Reeling Rockies on the ropes

Red Sox quell rally

1 win from sweep

Red Sox 10, Rockies 5

DENVER — When Boston carried a 6-0 lead into the sixth inning of Game 3 on Saturday with $100 million pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka on the mound, Red Sox Nation was thinking "sweep."

Boston manager Terry Francona was seemingly comfortable as well, and inserted Kevin Youkilis as a defensive replacement for David Ortiz after "Big Papi" struck out in the sixth.

But Colorado scored five runs in the next two innings to put a huge scare into Boston.

"It looked like we were hanging on for dear life," Francona said.

The Red Sox hung on all right, adding four insurance runs off relievers Brian Fuentes and LaTroy Hawkins to end a 4-hour 19-minute marathon with a 10-5 win.

The Red Sox will indeed go for the sweep on Sunday night with Jon Lester facing Aaron Cook in Game 4. Of the 22 teams in history that have taken a 3-0 lead into Game 4, none has lost the Series.

"Looks like we're in groundbreaking territory," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "We need to go out and win Game 4."

It's all over but the shouting, though no one in the Red Sox clubhouse would proclaim victory yet.

"You're in as good a situation as you can be in, up 3-0," Jacoby Ellsbury said. "But Colorado is a great ballclub, and they're going to compete. There's no quit in them."

Matsuzaka earned the victory with five-plus innings of two-run ball, and also contributed a two-run single during a six-run third inning off Josh Fogg that seemingly broke the game open, temporarily silencing the towel-waving crowd of 49,983 at Coors Field.

But the Rockies worked many a miracle while winning 21 of 22 games heading into the World Series, and were searching for one more on Saturday. Only two teams had overcome a six-run deficit to win a World Series game -- the 1996 Yankees, who beat Atlanta 8-6 in Game 4 after trailing 6-0; and the 1929 Philadelphia A's, who beat the Cubs 10-8 in Game 4 after trailing 8-0.

After issuing a pair of one-out walks in the sixth, Matsuzaka was replaced by reliever Javier Lopez, who allowed both runs to score on back-to-back RBI singles by Brad Hawpe and Yorvit Torrealba.

Mike Timlin got out of the inning on a warning-track fly to center by pinch-hitter Ryan Spilborghs and Julio Lugo's leaping catch of a liner off the bat of Jeff Baker. But Timlin gave up two straight hits to start the seventh, and in came Hideki Okajima, who promptly served up a three-run shot to Matt Holliday on a first-pitch changeup to make it a 6-5 game.

"They fought themselves back in the game," Francona said. "It was nice to give ourselves a little wiggle room."

The Red Sox wriggled back in the eighth off Fuentes on a run-scoring double by Ellsbury, who had three doubles, and a two-run double by Dustin Pedroia.

The first two Boston hitters contributed seven of the Red Sox's 15 hits.

"They've been doing a fantastic job at the top of the order," Hurdle said. "We've got to find a way to slow them down."

The Red Sox added one more run off Hawkins in the ninth to finish with double digits.

Before their late-inning bullpen struggles, the Rockies' middle relievers kept Colorado in the game after Fogg failed early. The former White Sox pitcher escaped trouble in both of the first two innings before the Red Sox knocked him out with six runs on seven hits in the fateful third.

Ortiz's RBI double broke the scoreless tie, Mike Lowell added a two-run single, and even Matsuzaka contributed with the first hit of his major-league career, a two-run single to give the Red Sox a 5-0 lead.

Ellsbury's second double of the inning -- which tied a World Series record for doubles in an inning, set by Arizona's Matt Williams in 2001 -- brought home the final run off Fogg.